


Taken

by maxiedear



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 11:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13189047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxiedear/pseuds/maxiedear
Summary: I wrote this for a creative writing class I think. Just a take on Hades and Persephone's relationship.





	Taken

I spotted my mother in the distance, tending her fields of oats and wheat. I never understood how she could enjoy that. Hunched over, with a sunburnt neck, poking and prodding the earth like a bird searching for its dinner. I prefer sitting and basking in the beauty of nature, taking in all that it has to offer with all of the wildflowers and their perfume, the birds and their songs. One dreary afternoon there was a storm that had been drawing in quicker than I thought, mist and rain started drizzling on me. The cool winds hit my face and swirled around my body.  
I noticed a man, standing atop of the next hill over. All of the flowers and grass around him had wilted, turning sickly shades of brown and grey. The storm was crawling closer, winds pushing against me. I hurried to the stone cottage my mother and I shared when she wasn’t up in Olympus. ‘We always get odd travelers here,’ I said to myself, ‘He’ll be gone by nightfall, if he doesn’t get caught in the storm...’

The rain was falling heavily by the time I rushed through the door of our home, and I told my mother about the strange man.  
“Must be Hades out for a walk in the fresh air. It gets stuffy down with all those dead folks in the Underworld,” she said. “Don’t think anything of him. He won’t harm us.”  
We settled down next to the hearth, listening to the rain started coming down in sheets, and the deep, rolling thunder rumbled in the distance.  
A loud banging at the door startled us both. My mother hurried to answer it.  


“Oh!,” She said with a start, “Hades! Come in, come in out of the rain. You must be soaked through your bones.’  


“I was in the neighborhood, Demeter, I’m sure you could use some company in this fine weather.” the God of Death said coyly, a slight smirk on his face.  


I stayed back while they made small talk. Gossiping about Ares and the scandal with Hephaestus, how drunk Dionysus was at the last party. I was surprised that Hades would visit us, Goddesses of springtime and life.  
I noticed a morning glory growing on our fence, started wilting, despite the plentiful rain. Glancing out the window, I saw Hellhounds surrounding our home. The skies fell as dark as the night, the winds howled with the Hounds.  


“I am looking for a bride,” said Hades, “and I intend to find one here.”  


“You most certainly will not,’ exclaimed my mother with a start, “We are Goddesses of springtime and growth. Neither of us belong in your dark, dead place!”  


“If neither of you will volunteer,” he said darkly, “I will make my choice.”  


He crossed the room faster than I ever could have imagined and grabbed me by the waist, dragging me out the door into the dreadful storm. My mother was yelling, telling Hades to let me go and take her instead. He ignored her remarks and jumped on a Hellhound as he instructed it to go straight home.

A strange sensation threw my stomach for a loop, despite being contained in Hades’ arms. Shadow jumping. We were traveling through the shadows, leaping from place to place in complete darkness. It was all over in the matter of seconds, but the experience was terrifying. The feeling of being pressed against a cold stone wall, while being stretched thin. It only hurt the first few times. 

When we arrived at Hades’ dark palace, he gave me a pair of ornate shoes.  
‘I've never had to wear shoes before...’ I thought.  


“Put them on, quickly. They will protect your spirit. The Earth here is not like the one on the surface. It will suck the life right out through the bottoms of your feet.” Hades said.

Hades welcomed me with a glorious feast, piles of delicious smelling food and strong drinks for everyone working in the palace. I refused to eat any of it. My gut told me something was wrong with it. I made the mistake of sucking on three pomegranate seeds, in fear I would starve in this land of death and despair. That was the one action in all of my life, that I regret the most. Three seeds determined my fate with Hades. Zeus has us married straight after, forcing to be bound with his brother, the dark Lord of the Underworld.

I must stay now for three months, one for each seed, per year. Those months are dreadful and cold, and I cannot go to the surface world to see nature’s beauty or bask in the sun. The other nine months of the year, I sit on my hills and watch the sun rise and set. The first few months I watch flowers bloom, and babies be born, regaining my own strength as if I am being born again too. I always help my mother tend to her fields. Sometimes a burnt neck isn't as bad as it once seemed. It always hurts me when I must leave, my sadness turns everything around me dull and grey. The leaves fall off the trees and the flowers all hide in the ground. The sun doesn’t rise as early, and sets just as early in the day.  
I can’t imagine what happens to the beautiful Earth when I am gone. I have never seen it, and I hope I never will.

Hades did give me marvelous gardens to spend my time in. I love my gardens, but they aren't quite like my home. I suppose this is my home though-- for three months out of the year. Hades loves me, I know that much. He says he loves how I am so full of life, since everyone else here is dead and decaying. He won't come to see my gardens though, he is afraid that his presence will wither the flowers and grasses that make my time here more bearable.  
I am thankful for everything he has done to make me comfortable here. Warm beds, beautiful shoes and dresses, meals like those on Olympus. I have Hellhounds of my own now, to take me safely to my gardens. I still cannot walk on these grounds without having my life slowly sucked through the soles of my shoes.  
I have come to love Hades, even if he is the God of the Underworld. I calm him when he gets too heated, he warms me up when I get too cold. I am grateful he chose me in place of my mother, she would not love him the way that I do, and still doesn't. Demeter will never forgive him for taking me. I forgave him long ago, Zeus as well. My husband and I are happy in our realm. 

I tried escaping my fate, and ended in failure. Hades and Zeus made sure that I would not be able to leave my bond, no matter how I tried to cut it. I would never be as scandalous as Aphrodite, sleeping with other gods to show my independence. I would hide. In dead trees, in caves, with the water nymphs, anywhere to try to escape my going to the Underworld. Hades would jump through every shadow in order to find me, I couldn't hide from him. It made him upset that I would try to stay on Earth, but he understood my pain. He was trapped in the Underworld too, and he could never leave. I gave up trying to escape, and accepted my fate as Hades’ wife.


End file.
